Advanced Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) Facility

The Solar Energy Conversion Group has developed and maintains unique, advanced electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) facilities at Argonne for the analysis of the structure and function of artificial and natural photosynthetic assemblies, catalytically active transition metal complexes, biohybrid complexes, organic photovoltaic materials, and metallo-organic frameworks.
Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy is only sensitive to systems containing unpaired electron spins. This makes EPR an indispensable technique for research into the chemical, biochemical and catalytical reactions where these radicals play a vital role. Another related field of application is in photochemistry, where chemical reactions are initiated by light.
After light absorption, the first step of transformation involves a charge separation process, which create both a negatively charged electron and a positively charged hole. Both of these posses unpaired spins and can be detected, characterized and followed by EPR. Furthermore, open-shell transition metals which are at the center of many catalytic reactions can also be studied in detail by EPR spectroscopy.